Change of government in Ghana
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana on Saturday ended with a victory for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party led by John Dramani Mahama. Mahama, who previously governed the country between 2012 and 2017 and ran unsuccessfully in the last two elections, was elected president with a majority of 56.5% of the vote. Together with him, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was elected Vice President, the first woman to hold this office. Mahama’s main rival was the incumbent Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), who only received 41% of the vote. The opposition is thus celebrating its clearest election victory since the reintroduction of democracy in 1992, even though observers had expected a close race or even a run-off in the run-up to the election.
In order to ensure the greatest possible transparency in the traditionally very close and tense elections, both the NPP and the NDC had the opportunity to place election observers at the polling stations and put their seal on the reported election results. Mahama’s victory became apparent early on during the vote count, which is why Bawumia conceded defeat on Sunday morning, well before the official announcement of the results by the Electoral Commission on Monday. According to his own explanation, by doing so he wanted to pre-empt political tensions and prevent possible violence in the country.
Mahama’s NDC also scored a major victory in the parliamentary elections and now has a clear majority with 186 of the 276 seats. The NPP lost 51 seats compared to the 2020 elections and now only has 86 MPs in parliament. According to the Ghana Electoral Commission, voter turnout was 60.9%, well below the 78.9% recorded in the 2020 elections. Many voters stayed away from the ballot box, particularly in the ruling party’s strongholds. The main reasons for the NPP’s poor performance after eight years in power lie in the dissatisfaction of the Ghanaian population with the country’s economic situation. According to critics, President Nana Akufo-Addo, who was constitutionally unable to run again after the end of his second term in office, is to be held accountable for Ghana experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades and falling into insolvency in 2022. As a result of the debt crisis, the country’s credit rating was downgraded, the Ghanaian currency, the cedi, depreciated significantly and the cost of living rose dramatically. In 2023, inflation reached levels of over 50%, and in November of this year it was still over 20%.
Ghana has also been dealing with the issue of illegal gold mining, known as galmasey, for some time. The conversion of cocoa and forest areas into illegal mining pits destroys sustainable sources of income, while biodiversity suffers considerably. In addition, the use of toxic chemicals contaminates water resources and decimates fish stocks. The government of Akufo-Addo is accused of having contributed to the loss of control in this area by increasing the licence fees for small-scale mining and thus pushing the workers into the area of illegal gold mining.
Another election campaign topic was the high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth, as well as the inadequate alignment of the education system with the needs of the labour market. Despite a fundamentally efficient education system, many are denied access to tertiary education at universities due to high costs. As more than half of the 18 million registered voters are under the age of 35, this problem was addressed by the presidential candidates during the election campaign with the promise to offer the first year of tertiary education free of charge. Mahama also scored points with his promise to promote start-up programmes for young entrepreneurs, particularly in the agricultural sector. He must now walk the talk despite the difficult economic situation.
New government appointed in Burkina Faso
On Sunday, the transitional president of the military junta in Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, appointed a new government after surprisingly announcing by decree on Friday evening that he had removed Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambèla from power and dissolved the government. Since then, there has been no official explanation for the dismissal of the government and prime minister, who had already led three military-led governments since Traoré took power in September 2022 (Press Review CW 43/2022). The new prime minister of the transitional government is Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo, who has held the position of government spokesperson and communications minister since the coup. In the decree read out on television on Sunday, the new government was appointed “according to the proposal of the Prime Minister”. However, there were only four changes to the total of 24 posts. These included the post of Minister for Humanitarian Aid, where Nandy Somé was replaced by Pélagie Kaboré. This dismissal takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing court proceedings against several employees of the ministry for misappropriation of funds amounting to over 4.5 million euros that were intended for internally displaced persons. In addition, the posts of Minister of Defense and Minister of Labor as well as the post of Minister of Communications, which became vacant following the appointment of Ouédraogo as Prime Minister, were filled. As in the previous government, only three posts are held by women. Despite military rule, the majority of ministers are civilians. This includes the new Prime Minister Ouédraogo, who is a journalist by profession and served as director of state television before taking up political posts. Nevertheless, Ouédraogo is considered a close ally of the military chief and has actively contributed to the restriction of press freedom in the country in his role as minister, for example by suspending several media outlets and expelling French correspondents.
Since Traoré came to power, Burkina Faso has turned away geopolitically from the former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia. Together with the neighboring states of Mali and Niger, which are also led by military juntas, Burkina Faso founded the Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) in September 2023, a confederation to curb the spread of jihadist violence. According to estimates, Burkina Faso’s military government only controls around half of the country’s territory. The remaining regions, especially in the north, are dominated by Islamist groups allied with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. As a defense and cooperation alliance, the AES aims to increase cooperation in foreign and security policy as well as in the areas of agriculture, energy and transport. In January 2024, the countries of the confederation withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), accusing their former alliance partners of being too heavily influenced by the former occupying power France.
Following the current surprising cabinet change, which did not appear to be on the horizon at all during its regular meeting held the day before, the first speculations are now being voiced as to whether the dismissed Tambèla will soon appear in a new high-ranking position within the AES. On Monday, the former Minister of Labor Bassolma Bazié was appointed President of Burkina Faso’s National Commission of the AES. Among other things, this body supports the President in structuring the AES and monitors the implementation of the regional body’s decisions. The personnel changes should therefore also be seen against the backdrop of Burkina Faso’s withdrawal from ECOWAS, which will take effect in January 2025 and therefore represents a turning point in the country’s politics.
In other news
The FIA Awards, which annually honour the most outstanding drivers, manufacturers, teams and legends from the various world championships of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), celebrate their 120th anniversary this year and will take place this Friday evening in the Rwandan capital Kigali, the first time in their long history in Africa. Under the motto “120 years of legends”, the sport’s top athletes – from all classes of road, off-road and circuit races – as well as famous motorsport personalities will gather in Rwanda to celebrate the successes of the past and present together. Earlier on Thursday evening, Rwandan President Paul Kagame received his high-level motorsport guests at the Kigali Convention Center and witnessed the unveiling of the first FIA Level 2 Affordable Cross Car produced in Africa, which was designed by Rwanda Polytechnic and the Rwanda Automobile Club (RCA) for cross car racing. Kagame took the opportunity to appeal to his guests to stop leaving African countries out of the equation when it comes to hosting international sporting events. His country is already in talks with the FIA to be included among the venues for Formula 1 races in the future. Meanwhile, Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, who will be crowned world champion for the fourth time in a row this evening in Kigali, will be on a Rwandan track in the coming days: he will have to serve his sentence imposed by the FIA for his inappropriate behaviour during a press conference at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix in the form of community service. To this end, he will work with young racing drivers from the RCA’s junior development program and is bound to also test the Rwandan cross car.